Don’t miss out on the chance to get a deal on this 1960 Sears Allstate at this weekend’s Steve McQueen auction at the Peterson in Los Angeles
Check out this item up for auction at the Bonham’s “Steve McQueen” auction
being held this Saturday, November 11 at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles,
California. (We put the name of the actor in quotes, because the bulk of the
lots up for auction had no connection with the guy whatsoever, so there are
plenty of items up for bid that folks like you and me can afford.) It’s a
1960 Sears Allstate, in nice original condition.
In the 1950s and 1960s, department stores like Sears and Montgomery Ward
sold European and Japanese bikes under their own private lable. Cushman,
Vespa, Lambretta and even Mitsubishi sold bikes and scooters under the
Allstate (Sears) and Riverside (Monkey Ward) banners. The Allstate
motorcycle was actually a Puch, the motorcycle arm of the Austrian
Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate. Allstate motorcycles were innovative little
bikes, powered by “split-single” or “twingle” engines, that used a single
connecting rod to drive two separate pistons. The bikes were also held
together by a unitized, pressed-steel chassis, Ã la the 1960 Triumph
Thunderbird.
Bikes like this change hands for under $500 all day long. The auction estimate on this lot is $500 to $1,000. If you’re in the L.A. area, be sure to stop by with cash in pocket.
(This post originally appeared in the November 9, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)
